Does memorial quote make Martin Luther King Jr. seem like an 'arrogant twit?'
Poet Maya Angelou says a truncated quote on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial makes the civil rights icon seem like an 'arrogant twit.' Public art is always controversial, and this is no exception.
An inscription is seen on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington. Poet and author Maya Angelou is taking issue with a paraphrased quotation from King, saying the shortened version makes the civil rights leader sound like an "arrogant twit" because it's out of context.
Charles Dharapak/AP
Public art is inevitably controversial, especially if it鈥檚 political. Think of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial created in 1982. Called 鈥渁 black gash of earth鈥� by its critics, it鈥檚 now the most-visited site in Washington.
The same is true of the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, a tribute to the preeminent icon of civil rights 鈥� a political issue if ever there was one.
Just ask poet and author Maya Angelou.
Ms. Angelou, herself a civil rights activist and a literary icon with 30-plus honorary degrees and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, says the new memorial 鈥� at least one engraved quote prominently attributed to Dr. King 鈥� makes him look like 鈥渁n arrogant twit.鈥�
Influential poets, it seems, would rather you keep your hands off the verbiage 鈥� especially words from one known for his stirring, historic rhetoric.
Angelou is dismayed at a design change that meant truncating something King had said to the congregation at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta two months before he was assassinated in 1968 into a sound bite so it could fit a particular space on the granite memorial.
You be the judge.
Full quote: 鈥淚f you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.鈥�
As engraved: 鈥淚 was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.鈥�
It was the editorial excision of that small but mighty 鈥渋f鈥� that did it for Angelou.
鈥淭he quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit,鈥� she told the Washington Post.
鈥淗e had no arrogance at all. He had a humility that comes from deep inside,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he 鈥榠f鈥� clause that is left out is salient. Leaving it out changes the meaning completely.鈥�
The paraphrase 鈥渕inimizes the man,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t makes him seem less than the humanitarian he was鈥�. It makes him seem an egotist.鈥�
Monument designers shortened that quote when they decided to change the placement of two inscriptions so that one 鈥� 鈥淥ut of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.鈥� 鈥� would be more prominent.
鈥淎s you move through the process, things happen and you have to make design changes on the spot,鈥� Ed Jackson Jr., the memorial鈥檚 executive architect, told the Post. He checked with two other memorial advisors who were okay with the change.
鈥淣ow, did I ask Maya Angelou?鈥� he said. 鈥淣o.鈥�
Others have criticized the memorial for different reasons.
In his review in the New York Times, Edward Rothstein described 鈥渢hese mounds of granite鈥� as having 鈥渁n almost artificial appearance with their sketchy, cartoonish contours.鈥�
鈥淭he mound鈥檚 isolation from any other tall objects, its enormity and Dr. King鈥檚 posture all conspire to make him seem an authoritarian figure, emerging full-grown from the rock鈥檚 chiseled surface, at one with the ancient forces of nature, seeming to claim their authority as his,鈥� Mr. Rothstein writes.
If you see it that way, it鈥檚 not exactly the image most people have of King, whose model for action was the nonviolent 鈥渟oul force鈥� of Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Probably like Gandhi, 鈥淒r. King would not have wanted to have a monument to himself at all,鈥� Mr. Jackson, the memorial鈥檚 executive architect,鈥� told NPR this week.
鈥淏ut we're not building this for Dr. King,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e're building this in honor of his legacy such that his legacy doesn't die with him. And so we're building this to inspire others to follow in his footsteps and in doing so you have to do it in such a compelling way that people are moved emotionally.鈥�
So far, judging by the discussion the memorial has generated and the crowds it鈥檚 attracted, it seems to have been a success.
Maya Angelou has written a poem 鈥淎bundant Hope鈥� for the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, which was delayed due to hurricane Irene.
Read it and hear the poet recite it . Its art is in words, not granite. But "Abundant Hope" is monumental nonetheless, and every word counts.